What are the benefits of selling your property with 'offers over £X' over setting a fixed price?

Answers (5)

This will help you to achieve the best price possible and will create a lot more interest than just a fixed price. Most people will put in a lower offer than the asking price so this helps you to achieve more for your property

However you phrase it, the price needs to be attractive. If you ask for 'offers over' then the starting price needs to look like a bargain. And, the offers over price needs to be near enough a price you would expect

Depending on where you live and the demand? 'OIEO' will put the onus on prospective buyers to 'come up' with a decent offer.
At this point in time, any sensibly priced home will have people falling over themselves to buy it (in London). What you must realise is that Estate Agents work on sales, so it's in their interest to advise you to value your property 'attractively' as they will get a quicker sale (turnover) and get their hands of the agreed selling percentage. Forget their advice though regarding setting at an 'attractive' price, research your local house values, similar houses/flats etc and price what YOU want it to be. This way, you will probably end up getting more for your property? If the agent really wants to sell your house, well make them work hard to achieve their commission? You are not a charity, they provide a service to both the vendor and buyer. Also, give them 4 weeks maximum to sell your place, then move onto a new agent. Any longer than that, demand a much lower sale percentage. Remember, you are now very much in charge of sales and they (EA) are queuing up property to sell.
And lastly, don't always go for the best offer over the beginning valuation, check out the buyers position, cash buyers are best (if only eh?) but buyers taking 3+ months to complete are a pain. If you're selling and not buying again (inheritance etc) keep very strict time limits for sale completion. Anything over 10 weeks? Put the price up accordingly. House price inflation is running at 10%+ in London, buyers stalling can cost you lots of money!

I know that it is very obvious to say, but when eyes are scanning a newspaper or the internet, the lower the number, the better. Always do what you can do arouse buyers interests, get them through the door etc. Once the right buyer walks through the right house, they will pay whatever they can. In most areas (London excluded) be aware that OIEO usually means 'This is my minimum, offer it and it's probably yours' and in fact, I have seen a good number of lower offers accepted.
I also believe that OIEO is a way of an Estates Agent lowering the price for the buyer whilst at the same time keeping the possibility of a high price there for the seller. In which case, the market has been moving or the house was wrongly priced at the start.

Hi Gipsyheights,
I know this is an old query but it's a great question, and one to know if you want to get most value out of your property.
It’s a very common question how people should price their house, should they just give it a fixed price or an offer over, offers in the region of, etc.
I think it really depends on the property and the market conditions locally.
So in a very good market people do often use an offers over price, because that way you've got a low bottom line, so the property is found very easily on property portals and through estate agents for example, but you are encouraging people to bid over the price.
However, on the other hand, that does put other people off. They don’t want to get into an auction or bargaining situation.
So you will find that you alienate some of your potential catchment of buyer.
So I think take good advice locally, that could be from a number of estate agents who know the area and your property well or from a local surveyor for example, and then I think you need to do what’s right for your position.
Hope that helps you or anyone reading this.
Jonathan Rolande :-)